So, I'd been a candidate for several dogs to walk. We can't have one in our flat, and I'd been in contact with animal welfare and visited the shelter two times, also accompanied their main dog person when walking a few dogs. Unfortunately a small war broke out between our -city owned- shelter and the animal welfare society, and it was the animal welfare society which managed the dogs being walked by volunteers.
It's all a bit complicated. Silly, actually. But it means right now, no dogs are being walked, for bureaucratic reason. I understand that there are insurance questions to be taken care of, especially when there are dogs the guy from animal welfare introduces to me like this: "Watch out, he doesn't mean bad, but if he gets hold of your arm we're not going to get him off you again." There was a certain, "You have to be really tough to walk our dogs. Are you man enough?" - mentality... So, no dog walking right now. :(


Then there's the cats. Ours had gone missing for a week. It turns out the poor thing wasn't "cheating", it had been locked up in a repair shop that had been closed temporarily.
We heard her howl after we'd been looking for her for an entire week, when my daughter walked down the street with me calling for her randomly, out of sheer despair. I'd walked up and down that street at all times of the day myself - nothing. But there was a cat howling, loud enough to be heard over the traffic - not loud enough so we could locate her, though. We returned later in the night, my husband, my daughter, me, and our neighbour, with lamps and two ladders.
(Another neighbour met us and must have thought that we're either the A Team or crazy.) The rest went smoothly: my daughter called the cat again, the cat answered with howls of hungry, hoarse despair, and I climbed into the huge yard of an auto repair shop that was owned by a neighbour, hoping he doesn't keep Dobermans around. I quickly found the cat locked up in a garage, she'd gotten so skinny she would have been able to just fit under the gate a few days later and was sticking out her paw through a small gap, trying to reach me. A few hours later, in the middle of the night, a very nice and sympathetic garage owner who wasn't disturbed at all that I had trespassed onto his estate full of expensive oldtimers not only locked up the garage for me way past midnight, but also gave useful tips on how to treat a dehydrated cat! I carried her home and we've been happy ever since.

On to my last cat anecdote: When looking for the cat and being insomniac anyways, I strolled the streets of our quarter at all times of the night between 22.00 and four o'clock in the morning. I met a lot of cats, and learnt some interesting tidbits about their habits. In particular, I met one very small cat that was the doppelganger of ours at night, but had a different colour in the light. I recognized her from one of the search ads from the shelter and knew the adress of her owner, who had lost her in June. I gave her some bits of cat food -she was too shy to just be picked up and carried home - and informed him I'd seen her. He lives right across the street from us. One evening I lured her off the yard of another repair shop and sat there, feeding her tuna, when her owner came along and identified her and seemed very glad to see her, but decided not to try to catch her right now. The thing is, he now knows she's still around, she's relatively well after three months, but not quite his tame little kitten anymore, and she's loosing a bit of weight every week. I still meet her; she lets me stroke her, but not pick her up.
And then, one time, I lured her right in front of his door with a can of tuna where she then sat and ate; I ringed the bell and informed him that she was there and he just said that he had a visitor right now and would maybe check later wether she was still around. That was a week ago, she's still outside and getting skinny, despite me feeding her every time we meet.

Result: I am thinking of catnapping for the first time in my life, because he doesn't take care. She's not even vaccinated or neutered, it's getting cold, and he can't even be bothered to just come down the stairs and lure her in. She likes to be stroked after a few warming up minutes, and would be well off with a family with some cat experience. What do I do now?

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

Just to illustrate:



And now, for comparision:

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

It might be a time for bluntness Hsing. Calmly ask him if he's not interested in the cat anymore and if not you'll try to find a new home for it.

As a dog owner the "How happy my dog is to see me" graph is so, so true .

Q. How do you write?
A. One word at a time.

Take the cat. Tell the guy you've taken the cat and if he actually wants it back he knows where it is.

My pet story...

In one memorable visit to the dog park Jackson pissed on the head of a grey Staphy called Neddy. Neddy's owner had to pick him up and stick him bodily under a running tap to deal with the mess. What do you say to people who your dog has just pissed on their dog (in mitigating circumstancing their dog does have an unholy fascination with humping Jackson)

On the same day Jackson was T-barred by another dog into a park bench after which he was a bit sore and became the most affectionate dog in the world.

PhD Student: Research information sheet

There once was a man named Bruce
Who liked to sit on a spruce
He ate lots of chowder
And yelled at me louder:
"I'm talking to YOU, Mrs. Hughes!"
--> The Literary Genius: Mowgli

The neighbour's cat isn't tame enough yet to be taken in after three months outside - and after falling out of a third floor window back in June in the first place. But she comes 2 out of three times I call to give her some food.
So, as soon as she lets me pick her up or follows me home I will probably do one of the things you suggested.

Spiky, I don't know what dog etiquette there is, really, but maybe apologizing to the dog owner for having to give the dog a shower? Sure, his dog was a stalker, but that hopefully didn't cause any damage. I guess you're always required to apologize for what your pets did... I don't even want to know what our cat did during her week in that repair shop, where she still likes to visit even after her stressful imprisonment, but I'll go back and offer a thanks and a cactus anyways. (Cactus because it seems that particular repair shop is the neighbourhood cats' in bar currently, and cacti are the most likely to survive a cat, and apparently it closes down for a few days occasionally, and you can leave most cacti alone for a week.)

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

Update: The cat loves us now, comes running hightailedly when I call her and is as cute as a button.

We can't take her in though because we found out she's hiding three kittens somewhere under a pile of wood and trash in the yard of a stovebuilder in the neighbourhood.

Maybe she'll introduce her family and we can take them in. I am pretty sure by now her former owner won't turn up. Then we'll look for a new home. It should be easy with the mama cat, she's small, remembers how to use the toilet, is small and cute and extremely cuddly and child friendly.

The yard owner also has my phone number in case he needs to remove their home pile, so I hope he doesn't go the traditional way to get rid of his blind passengers.

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

I'm surprised you haven't posted any pictures of your new found friend yet, Hsing You said it yourself, everyone loves a cute cat photograph.
Hope you manage to find the kittens and a good home for them.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep, just like grandpa. Not screaming and panicking like his passengers.
Don't drink and drive from The Lancre Tavern

Okay - you provoked it.

Here she is:



She looks a bit strange in this one. She's small with a very round head, which makes her look cuter in real life, sort of.

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

What a little beauty she is. I love that deep mahogany colour with the black.

It's easy to forget that underneath all cats are a malevolent bundle of evil wrapped in fur. (Granny Weatherwax?)

How do you do it, Hsing? Every single photograph you post is captured in bright sunlight. If you're bottling the stuff up and saving it for dull days I sure could do with a few litres.
We've had rain for so long our two cats are developing orange-brown streaks in their otherwise grey fur. I think it might be rust

I want to die peacefully in my sleep, just like grandpa. Not screaming and panicking like his passengers.
Don't drink and drive from The Lancre Tavern

She is a cutey. As to the sun its supposed to be spring here but winter has made a return trip with rain, hail, sleet, wind and a balmy 3C... summer better show her face otherwise I'm going to have to go to the underworld to slap her out of her stupor...

In other pet related news I'm minding my sisters 2 dogs, another lab and maltese cross thingy. making for a crowded house of 3 dogs and 2 adults, which would be fine if we had a decent sized back yard and better weather. Cos its semester break I get to work from home so the 3 of them are sharing 2 beds inside but I wouldn't want to do this all the time.

PhD Student: Research information sheet

There once was a man named Bruce
Who liked to sit on a spruce
He ate lots of chowder
And yelled at me louder:
"I'm talking to YOU, Mrs. Hughes!"
--> The Literary Genius: Mowgli

Sounds like you're building up a pack of your own, Spiky! Your house is probably the one with the least likelihood of being broken into in your neighbourhood.

Joculator, I just tend to go outside (with the kid) as soon as the sun comes out, and we do live in a part of Germany that's known (to "insiders") for either having very good weather or proper rain, but not so much of the grey mishmash inbetween most other German landscapers know so well.

We located mama cat on the same area where our own cat up locked herself up at a few weeks ago. That is, on the huge yard belonging to the repair shop where our little black one was locked up in a garage. I'm glad for it, because the owner is very animal friendly and will call us when the pile of wood the cat lives under has to be removed. She definitly has young ones, most likely under that very pile, too. She seems to have started out in a much less cat friendly environment -next door, at a different site, under a pile of rubble, where I was a bit afraid the owner might just get a bucket instead of me when they find the kittens- but now I'm pretty sure she'll be fine for the time being and until we can convince her to move inside.


PS: We have an unneutered tomcat in the neighbourhood. I'm curious to see wether any of the kittens, or the kitten, is a red tabby - people! Neuter your cats! Early! In the case of tomcats, it's not even that much of an op! Gods. *sigh*

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

Yowch, though I totally agree, only a woman could write that line.*

Randywine.

*Please don't kill me.

Q. How do you write?
A. One word at a time.

*lol*
Well, you don't have to cut their bellies open, and they recover more quickly because of that.

Which could lead to so many other related ouch-lines only a woman could write, like, "There are situations when it is convenient that male cats carry their reproduction organs outside." etc, but I shall stop there out of tact.

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

I do find it amazing that people don't cut the business bits off... I was watching "Its me or the dog" and there's all these guys who think its a personal reflection on them if they get there dog's bits done. One guy even went so far as to say he wouldn't want it done so I don't want it done to my dog...

Know your own species! Men can keep their bits (although I know lots of men who's bits probably should have been removed for their own safety) dogs / cats can't.

PhD Student: Research information sheet

There once was a man named Bruce
Who liked to sit on a spruce
He ate lots of chowder
And yelled at me louder:
"I'm talking to YOU, Mrs. Hughes!"
--> The Literary Genius: Mowgli